Long Beach woman admits concocting gas station baby story, must pay city costs

LONG BEACH — A 52-year-old Long Beach woman admitted in court Wednesday her part in concocting a story about finding a baby at a gas station, when in reality the woman's daughter gave birth to the child, and is now on the hook for the costs of investigating the hoax.

Sonia Hernandez entered a no-contest plea, considered the same as a guilty plea in criminal court, to one count each of filing a false police report and obstruction of justice.

She was immediately sentenced to one year in county jail by Long Beach Superior Court Judge Chet Taylor, who stayed the term and placed Hernandez on three years summary probation, said City Prosecutor Doug Haubert.

Taylor also ordered Hernandez, who has no criminal record, to 45 hours of community service, to be completed within a year, Haubert said.

Perhaps most importantly, Hernandez agreed to accept liability for all costs incurred by the city in investigating her false report, Haubert said. That could include the cost of sending police officers and paramedics to the scene where the baby supposedly had been found, to investigation and legal costs.

"That's the most significant part of this case, I think," Haubert said, adding that he couldn't speculate on how much those costs could add up to when Hernandez returns to court in June.

"The city will go through its records and deliver the amount so that the taxpayers will not have to pay for her crimes," Haubert said.

The case made headlines throughout Southern California, with Hernandez and her daughter doing multiple media interviews, claiming Hernandez had found a newborn baby girl in a plastic bag at USA Gas Station, located at Seventh Street and Alamitos Avenue, in February.

Hernandez described finding and holding the child in great detail and cried for the rolling cameras, saying she wanted to "keep the baby."

The investigation, however, soon revealed that the baby was born to Hernandez's daughter, Paloma Espinoza, in the bathroom of Espinoza's Long Beach apartment.

The 28-year-old Long Beach woman then turned the newborn over to her mother, went to the downtown gas station and called police, authorities said.

Sources close to the investigation said Espinoza used a hair elastic, or "scrunchie," to tie off the umbilical cord before cutting it, and said she left the newborn unattended in the bathroom for several hours while she "ran errands."

Authorities said Espinoza told detectives she didn't realize she was pregnant until she went into labor, and she said she lied about giving birth because she didn't want her girlfriend to know she had been unfaithful.

The baby was born with traces of drugs in her system and was suffering from exposure, but she was taken into protective custody and doing well, authorities said.

Espinoza is charged with misdemeanor child endangerment and abandonment and is still awaiting trial. She is scheduled to return to the Long Beach Superior Court on May 1, and could face a year in county jail if convicted on all counts, Haubert said.